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Zeran v. America Online
'Zeran v. America Online Inc.' What Happened? In 1997 in the boom of online social interaction and intrigue the case of Zernan v. America Online rocked the media stage. In 1995 just six short days after the Oklahoma City Bombing that shocked the nation, anonymous individuals started leaving messages on the “Michigan Military Movement” bulletin board on America Online (AOL). These messages or slogans were nothing short of horrific and crude. Here are some examples of the slogans: "Visit Oklahoma... It's a BLAST!!!", "Putting the kids to bed...Oklahoma 1995", "McVeigh for President 1996", "Forget the rescue, let the maggots take over- Oklahoma 1995", and "Finally a day care center that keeps the kids quiet." These slogans were then being advertised as being available in T-shirts and a number was posted to call to place an order. The number belonged to Kenneth M. Zeran, an entrepreneur that worked from home. Mr. Zeran had nothing to do with these posts that were being made, he contacted AOL and had the message removed. He received many threatening phone calls. A short time later more messages appeared and he had to yet again call AOL to have it removed. A local radio personality from KRXO, a radio station in Oklahoma city, brought these posts to the medias attention and read them over the air. This action only added to the fuel of the fire that already burning. By this point in time Mr. Zeran’s phone line could no longer be used for his personal business, as he was receiving a threatening call every two minutes. Over the next couple weeks the calls slimmed down to about 15 a day. Mr. Zeran’s house had to be placed under protective watch, as did Mr. Zeran. In January of the following year Mr. Zeran filled a lawsuit against Diamond Broadcasting, the company that owned the local radio show were the messages were read on air. In April of that same year Mr. Zeran also filed a lawsuit against AOL. The original perpretrator of these posts was not caught. What does it mean? The issue that this case presents is “whether an online service, website, or other interactive computer service, can be held liable for defamation made by third parties, where the defamed party has been injured by defamatory speech made by persons who post in an interactive computer service.” meaning that Zeran lost the trial against American Express due to information in article 230 from the Communications Decency Act. Article 230 states, "no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as a publisher or speaker of any information provided by another infomation content provider" meaning that "immunizes AOL" and any interactive computer service from claims based on information posted by a third party. In simpler terms it means that an interactive site or distributor, like Facebook or Google, are not responsible for the repercussions of what users say or post on their site. This can be applied also the concept of online bullying. Though it may happen on these social media sites, the sites them selves are not responsible for the actions that may follow what is said on the site. They cannot be held responsible for damages, fights that may happen, personal problems that follow, etc. An example of this is The United States v. Lori Drew. There are certain regulations that have to be followed but in this case it is more concerned about who is responsible.